Stove has serious interest in the Gators: Florida Gators recruiting

Prospects across the country who once were marked off the Florida Gators recruiting board are once again appearing on the board as they show interest in the 6-1 Florida Gators.

Auburn Tigers receiver commit Eli Stove (6-0, 174, Niceville, FL High) is one of those prospects who is showing interest in the Gators now and last Monday he received a visit from Florida, according to Stove’s father Langston Stove.

“Coach [Jim] McElwain came by Eli’s school on Monday during the day,” Langston Stove said. “There is a fine line that the coaches can’t talk to the kids, but I know that Coach McElwain spoke to his coaches. I’m not really sure what they told his coaches except that I know they want Eli in Gainesville.”

Stove wasn’t able to speak to Florida last week but according to his father, Stove speaks to three Florida Gators coaches on a regular basis.

“He’s talking to Coach Mac, Coach Drew Hughes and Coach Kerry Dixon the receivers coach,” he said. “Their main message to us right now is that they want him down there to be a Gator and that they want to welcome his talents down there. They want him to come down on a couple of visits. We have told them that we will take an official visit down there.”

The Florida Gators recruiting commit list already shows four receivers on it but Stove is still wanted in Gainesville according to his father.

“Florida has told him that they want him as an athlete and that he can play wherever down there,” Stove said. “Most of the other schools are recruiting him as a receiver but Florida just wants him down there. Right now we are trying to figure out where he would fit in at, we know that they are recruiting a lot of receivers but Florida wants Eli, so only time will tell.”

Stove hasn’t visited the Gators since last spring but that will change soon according to the Auburn commit’s father.

“We have let them know that we will take an official visit to Florida,” he said. “We have also planned to go down there on November 7th for the Vanderbilt game. The official visit will be after the season is over with.”

Prospects are allowed five official visits but Stove’s father isn’t sure if his son will use all five.

“Auburn is another visit we will take but right now that’s all we know about,” Stove said. “A lot of schools stopped recruiting him when he committed, but he was willing to visit LSU, Georgia and Notre Dame. Those schools have slowed down in recruiting Eli since he committed though.”

Stove has been committed to Auburn since last May but right now that pledge is very shaky and the Gators could be the team to watch out for.

“Right now Florida and Auburn are the two teams recruiting him the hardest,” he said. “With his Auburn commitment, I don’t know, at one point he was real solid to them but I don’t know. He’s evaluating them right now with the situation they have going on right now.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Stove is one of the top prospects on the Florida Gators recruiting board and someone that would be a huge addition to the Florida Gators recruiting class for this year. Stove is a guy that would like play from day one on special teams with his speed and athletic ability.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.